Learning From Life

Learning From Life

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.

John 16:13

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At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him.

            Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, "Are you also going to leave?"

Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life."

John 6:66-68

After Jesus had asked this question to the twelve that were following Him, Simon Peter simply replied by stating the powerful truth he had come to know after following the Lord for the last three years. Jesus really was the One who had the words of "eternal life". This had dawned upon Peter as he had witnessed for himself many times over that truth emanating from the Savior. Regardless of whatever else would happen to Peter during the rest of his life, this was a truth that he would never forget.

Peter's answer was dramatic. Normally, no Jew would ever think of making such a statement about anyone other than Jehovah. It was simply unthinkable! Peter knew that any Jew could be put to death for saying something such as he did (it would have been considered blasphemy), but this game changing truth had not come to Peter lightly. Three years of following Jesus and learning His teachings had left something inside of Peter that would forevermore be an inseparable part of his heart. He had grasped an eternal truth that would never allow his life to be the same ever again.

At this point in my talk, I want us to stop and consider a fascinating thought for a moment: this wonderful truth that Peter had learned was directly from Jesus.  What if Peter had chosen to study and gain his knowledge from the corrupted mindset of the Pharisees? What if he had hung out for three years with them and then followed their perverted examples?

If he had done that, I suppose that his life and thoughts would have turned out differently than they did.

Yes. Very, very differently.

Everyday, all of us face the same choice as Peter did; you know.....the one where that we can choose to learn from whomever we wish? As the hours of our lives flow pass us, we are constantly making important decisions that direct us to where we will gather our knowledge and education. Some get it from TV, others find it in books, and many of us will learn things from the internet. I know that I do.

What we learn, and from whom we learn it, will always have a great impact on where we wind up in life. Those who aspire to become the best doctors seek to learn from those whom they consider to already be the best in their field of study. When one desires to have a great mind, the practical thing he does is to seek out the thoughts of other great thinkers and philosophers. Those who dream to be outstanding physicists try to gain understanding and knowledge from the phenomenal mathematicians and scientists who went before them. People who want to be good parents look to research the thoughts of those who have been successful at childrearing.

There is a wise pattern here, you see. Learn from those who have been successful at what they do.

The people from whom we learn things are those that we refer to as teachers, and most of us have special memories concerning the ones we have encountered in our lives.

Usually, the ones we remember most are those who have genuinely made a difference in our lives. Regardless of whether their enduring impressions on us were good or bad, all of the things we learned from them have impacted us in some special way. It may be that a select few of those teachers left such deep, carved out impressions on us, that they have significantly made us what we are today.

You may be glad of that and you may not.

I sincerely hope that you have acquired some fond memories about the teachers who influenced your life. Hopefully, those memories are about someone who spent time teaching and touching your life in a very positive way.

(If you feel otherwise, then don't despair.  As we shall see later, there is hope even now.)

As we all grew up and left our school day teachers behind, there were others that came into our lives who tended to influence and direct us in many other ways. They were usually those whom we were around every day. Whether we were at work or play, these people, whom we can call teachers of life, reinforced the fact that we all are living in a constant state of learning. We began to learn about things that we never dreamed of when we were in grade school. We soon discovered that we had enlisted in a different learning environment. Part of that was what some people called  the School of Hard Knocks.

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Most of us enjoy learning new things. The desire that we have to learn is very basic to our nature, and that concept is expressed deeply within us since we find ourselves consistently seeking to acquire new knowledge.

Consider some of these things we learned as we grew up:

We learned to walk.

We learned to eat with a spoon.

Eventually, we learned to dress ourselves and to tie our shoes.

Some of us learned to play ball and enjoy sports.

Others learned to play music and seek the arts.

Some people learned to do both.

Some have learned the skills of rock climbing and sky diving.

Others learned the expertise of boating and water sports.

At one time in our lives, most of us learned to drive a car. (Of course, as it is demonstrated daily, some of us learned to do this better than others did.... I'm just saying.... )

Just think of all the processes we have to go through when we learn how to use our computer gadgets. Sometimes we have to consult a book, friend, or online site to learn what we need to know. Once in a while someone will actually break down and read the instructions....can you believe it?  (Usually, it’s not a guy………)

        Here is a list of some of the great things we have learned to use:

                Smart phones.

                Smart tablets.

                Laptops.

                Desktops.

                Modems.

                Routers.

                Web streamers.

                ...and there are myriad of other electronic devices that I don't                         even         know of or have the room to list in this talk.

Most of us will admit that people instinctively have the innate ability and desire to learn. Rarely would anyone question that. But that which will make a huge difference in our lives is this: from whom will we choose to learn?

This will make all the difference, and I cannot express strongly enough how crucial this decision is to your future!

Drug addicts, people in prison, and those with HIV would tell you this is true............

Consider the following true story to help me illustrate this concept:

My wife and I once knew a couple at our church who shared with us that the marriage they were in had deteriorated to the point that terrible trouble was brewing up all the time. Of course, we were sympathetic and understanding to them because we knew that problems like this could happen to any couple. Immediately we agreed to begin praying for this marriage. Sadly, as the relationship between this couple worsened, one of them began to consult with friends at work about the marriage problems they were having. Many of those (as I was told later) had already gone through their own divorces, and to make things worse, some were currently involved with extramarital affairs. Our friend had chosen to learn from the wrong teachers and their marriage worsened immediately. Right away, a terrible decision was made to go out and sleep with someone else. That decision pretty much destroyed any chance to save their marriage, and they soon wound up involved with a very ugly divorce. 

It is no big surprise that things turned out poorly for this young couple and their children.

You see, the problem was not that my friend was a poor learner, the real problem exposed itself when the decision was made to choose the wrong teachers from which to learn. There is always  a terrible price to pay for doing that. The teacher that my friend adopted in this case taught them how to choose hurt, anger, regret, pain, and lifelong scars as companions.

Our hearts broke as we watched this life and marriage being torn apart, while at the same time, deeply hurtful wounds were leaving scars on everyone within the family.

I wonder what different results might have transpired had this couple chosen to consult with and hang around people who had good, solid marriages; i.e. people who could have offered up examples of successful marriages and then provided helpful advice to fix the marriage difficulties they were experiencing?

 --Makes you kind of wish that life had an "undo" button, doesn't it?

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Wrong Teachers

One of the things in life that we all truly need to be aware of is that there are wrong teachers everywhere. The truth is, Satan actually has them lined up eagerly waiting to help us get the "stuff" of life all wrong. They are always waiting; looking for a chance to make us another one of his casualties. On Facebook, many computer websites, TV shows, billboards, and a myriad of other places, we can see Satan's luring call in the seductive titles and icons. He hopes that we will learn how to use the simple act of "click here" at his enticement. If we allow them to do so, Satan can use these wrong teachers to destroy our bright futures and sweet hopes of a happy life.

Actually, when we examine the whole picture, there are both wrong teachers and right teachers along the paths of our lives, and both are eagerly waiting for us to meet them.

If you really care about your own life and those around you, you will begin to make a habit of carefully choosing the right teachers to follow and learn from.

Dangerous Traps

All too often, people can adopt a certain level of comfort while hanging out with those who have gotten things wrong in their lives. Sensing a sort of "connectedness" with the other person's failures brings a feeling of acceptance. Very few things are more intimidating than being around people whom we perceive to be successes at life while we, at the same time, are feeling like failures. This is a very difficult situation in which to find ourselves, and some people just can't handle the emotional strain of it.

Being with those who have failed at something gives us another feeling that we are not alone in our failure. If another's failure happens to be worse than ours is, then we get this warped feeling of satisfaction that at least we are not as big a failure as someone else. The bad thing is, we can become so comfortable with failure that we begin to see it as the norm by which to live.

When we do that, we make the tragic mistake of lowering our own expectations to the extent that we accept failure as the standard to which we live. In this way, we don't feel so much a failure at being a failure.......at least we have succeeded at something.

If you have developed this mindset, then Satan has suckered you into the philosophy of life that he wants for you.

Get used to living in defeat and misery because that will be your constant destiny.

This drives me to ask these two vital questions, "Why would anyone want to accept losing at life as the norm?"

Is this a place in life where anyone would really want to stay?

No, of course not, and there is a way out.....

Right Teachers

Finding the right teachers may be a little harder to do, but they are out there waiting for us. The Lord has them everywhere, and it is very important that we be clear in our understanding of who and what they are.

Get this fact straight first....they are not perfect people.

        Let me relay to you a story I once heard about an interview being

        conducted with someone who was considered to be a successful 

        banker.

        The interviewer started the conversation with this simple question, "Sir,

        would you please share with our audience today what you attribute 

        your great success to?"

        The banker looked thoughtful for a moment as he studied over the

        question. He then proceeded to answer his inquisitor with only two 

        words, "Good decisions."

        At that, the interviewer persisted with a second question, "And what, 

        sir, is it that you feel helped you to make such good decisions?"

        After another short pause, this time the banker replied with only one 

        word, "Experience."

        The interviewer, really wanting more information than just a few 

        simple words, said to him, "Sir, can you then please share with   us

         the steps you took to gain such good experience?"

        The banker then looked as if he were searching his inmost thoughts

        for the correct answer to give to this persevering reporter. Suddenly,         he raised his eyebrows as the answer finally hit him! He drew himself         up with all the sincerity he could muster and proceeded to give out 

        only two more words, "Bad Decisions!"

Good teachers are those kind of people that, regardless of the mistakes they made, have learned that life can be lived in a better way than most people know. When they have experienced failure, (which every single one has in some way or another) settling for it was not an option. If they had any sin hindering them at the moment, they repented of it and then turned their lives over to Christ so that He could "work all things together for good" in their situation..... (Romans 8:28)

These good teachers have definitely made their own blunders, but afterwards they made great efforts to recover. They rejected "doing it wrong" as the norm for living, and then set out to find what "doing it right" actually looked like. They did whatever it took to not stay and live in failure. Many of them went out and found themselves a "right teacher" to help them.

These kind of people can help us avoid a lot of the heartbreak that they may have already experienced while on their own journey. They always have much to say to people who are currently pursuing their own way in life and are willing to learn.

Think through these ideas:

                If you want a successful career, hang out and learn from

                 someone who already has one. Find out what they are doing                  and use it to your advantage. Forget about hanging out with                  your unemployed friends down at the bar. Running with losers                      won't help you cross the finish line as a winner.

                If you want your kids to turn out right, spend time with people                   whose kids did turn out right and learn from them. You will                   probably learn what won't work as well as what might work in                       your situation. There are no perfect parents, but there are                   those who learned to include Christ in their child-rearing, and                   that alone has made a huge difference for them. This is                   something worthwhile learning.

                       If you want to be a success at being a single parent, then find

                    someone who is learning how to do it well, and learn from

                    them. The process of learning to be a good parent is on-going                     and challenging for everyone.

              If you want to weigh less, choose to hang out -- and eat with --                        people who are thinner than you. Learn their patterns of being                   trim. Hanging out with fat people may make you feel better,                   but it won't make you thin. (And praying that prayer, "Lord , if I                    can't be thin, please make my friends fat," won't help anything                     either.)

                If you want to be spiritual, find someone who is spiritual to                    mentor you. Listen to that person's heart as you talk together                    and learn all that you can from them. Examine the bruises                    and difficult times they have suffered through and discover how                    that you, too, can become amazingly closer to Christ through                    your own trials.

It makes sense that when anyone wants to be a success and excel at what they are attempting, they should seek out those who are the best teachers, i.e. those who have had a measure of success at their quest in life.

Who are your teachers when it comes to:

Marriage?

Philosophy?

Morals?

Finances?

Spiritual growth?

Integrity?

Work ethics?

Reject the wrong teachers and seek those who will care for and mentor you. Be careful to allow the Holy Spirit to make the decision for you when it comes to whom He can use to teach you. He will point out the good ones if you are paying attention.

Someone may say, "But Dan, all my friends' lives are pretty much messed up already. What do I do now?"

The answer is simple, but not easy.

Go out to look for some new friends to hang with.

You will never be sorry of doing that.

It may be that you also need a life change that only Christ Himself can provide. Give yourself to Him as fully as you know how and seek Him to bring new friends into your life. He has a better record than all the Christian dating websites put together.

Choose wisely from whom you will learn, and you will wind up having fewer regrets in life.

Proverbs 9:9-11 NLT

9 Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.

10 Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

11 Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life.

Humbly submitted,

Dan